Pennsylvanian Bags 772-lb. Black Bear

If you’re a bear hunter and live within driving distance of Pennsylvania, you need to plan to hunt there next fall. Many hunters spend thousands of dollars to travel to distant lands in the quest of bagging a large, mature black bear, yet for a general license fee of $101 and a bear tag of $36 you can hunt what are quite possibly the largest black bears on the planet. Daniel Beavers took what may become the new world-record black bear on the second day of Pennsylvania’s recent season, demonstrating that this is a hunt not restricted to persons of great means. Interestingly, Beavers bagged the giant bruin with a very special rifle in even more special circumstances. You’ll want to read his story, as reported by Kyle Wind in The Scranton Times-Tribune:

When he went hunting on the second day of bear season, Covington Twp. resident Daniel Beavers found himself reaching for his father Jacob’s .30-06 rifle instead of his usual choice, a 12-gauge shotgun. About an hour into the hunt, Mr. Beavers fired his now-deceased father’s rifle twice at an enormous male black bear, taking down the largest recorded bear in the state so far this season.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission said the bear weighed 772 pounds, and Mr. Beavers, 49, said he will find out in two months if the Boone and Crockett Club determines if the skull’s size is a world record. Mr. Beavers said he sees his prize as a tribute to his father, who taught Mr. Beavers to hunt at age 12. The pair went hunting together every year until his death in 2012. “We worked together every day in the woods at the family logging business (Beavers Logging & Firewood),” said Mr. Beavers.

Mr. Beavers said he was close with his dad, and coping with the loss has sometimes been difficult since the elder Mr. Beavers died in hospice in February 2012 at 75. “I don’t know why I decided to take his gun,” said Mr. Beavers. “I guess I was thinking about him.”

Joe Byers has more than 1,000 magazine articles in print and is currently a field editor with Whitetail Journal, Predator Xtreme, Whitetails Unlimited, Crossbow Revolution, and African Hunting Journal magazines. He’s spent the last three decades depicting the thrill of the chase and photographing the majesty of all things wild. Byers is a member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association and numerous other professional and conservation organizations.